Family Dynamics
by purple.bookworm.girl
Summary: We all know NCIS is as close as a family. But what if they really were? Jenny's perspective on her often crazy, seldom normal, always loving family. Will include characters not in the immediate family later.


_**A/N: This idea has been floating around my head for a while. It was just a story to write for fun, but I like the way this came out. So, here it is!**_

**_Disclaimer: I own none of it._**

_Inspired by Abby's "the kids don't like it when Mommy and Daddy fight" quote_

Jenny Gibbs stood at the top of the stairway and yelled, "You're all going to be late for school if you don't get up now!" The sound of four pairs of feet hitting the floor almost in unison answered her and she smiled, heading back downstairs to the kitchen.

Her four children were all very different, but one thing was the same for all of them – they hated getting up for school. Even Ziva had taken to sleeping late, something that had been so foreign to her when she first moved in.

Tony, the oldest at seventeen, would almost certainly be down last. Star of their high school's football team, he lorded it over his younger brother and sisters that everyone knew his name but only referred to the others as 'Tony's siblings'. He was a definite movie buff, always spouting off quotes that drove Ziva mad.

He was smart, but one of the laziest people Jenny had ever seen. Homework was a constant source of conflict for the teenager and his parents. Jenny had noticed lately that it had also become a source of conflict between Tony and Ziva – the latter looking at her brother's apathy as carelessness and uselessness.

But Tony excelled in sports. Aside from football, he played soccer in the spring and basketball in the winter. He was constantly trying to get his siblings, especially Tim, to play pickup games with him. Ziva had started taking him up more and more often, trying to show she could beat her older brother at the things he loved. This had started to make Tony mad, and he had started to try to beat Ziva at her favorite things, mainly schoolwork. They were in the same level of two different foreign languages, and Tony's grades had stayed high for once in his life.

Ziva was about two years younger than Tony. Jenny was sure she would be down first – in fact, she could already hear her quiet footsteps on the stairs. Ziva was adopted, but she was just as much their child as their biological children.

Jethro had been visiting a friend of his in Tel Aviv, Israel when a bomb went off outside a small school across the street from where they were. Both men had jumped into action, trying to save as many children as possible. Ten-year-old Ziva was one of the first Jethro pulled free, unconscious. Jethro had gone back to see her in the hospital, where he found out that her brother and sister had both been killed in the school bombing, and that her father had been killed in a related attack on a downtown office building. He had become very close to the quiet girl, so when she was well enough, Ziva came to the States and a ready-made family.

She excelled in languages, already in AP French as a sophomore. Her biological father had been one of the higher-ups in Israel's Mossad, and Ziva had been brought up to be as ruthless as possible. In America, she had taken a while to adjust to just being a kid, but Jenny wouldn't have had it any other way.

And the fourteen-year-old twins, Abby and Tim. As Ziva sat down at the table, Jenny could hear the two younger children bickering as they came down the stairs.

Both were serious computer geeks and very smart, but that was where the similarities ended. Tim was quiet, reserved, and easily bullied around. Abby was loud, hyper, and always ready to stand up for herself or any of her siblings. She had also decided to become Goth about a year ago, completely revamping her wardrobe and dying her hair black.

Tim's favorite class was math. He was extraordinarily good at it, often surprising his teachers with how much he understood and how quickly. Computers were a snap to him, often leading to funny conversations between the youngest child and his father, who was technologically inept. His quiet, retiring personality often put him at the brunt of his siblings' jokes, but they were all in good fun – all the older children, especially Abby, protected Tim like no other.

Abby, Abby, Abby. Jenny had never had any idea how to describe her younger daughter. The hyper, enthusiastic girl was also very smart, but better at science than math. She had wanted to be a forensic scientist for a while – their old house, before Ziva had moved in, had been next to a wrecking yard and Abby had loved learning the cause-and-effect behind the wrecks.

And last but certainly not least, Jethro. Jenny loved her strong, quiet husband. They had met in Paris, Jethro as an undercover NCIS agent and Jenny as a stranded tourist. He had taken her under his wing and shown her the city, all while pretending to be someone he wasn't. When it was time for him to go back to the States, he had told her the truth. She had taken it badly, upset that he hadn't thought her important enough to tell the truth. But when he came looking for her back in Washington, she had realized just how deeply she had fallen in love. So when he asked her to marry him, she said yes.

It was only when she was pregnant with Tony that she found out about his first wife and daughter. It had hurt her deeply once again that he hadn't confided in her, but she understood – Shannon and Kelly were so close to his heart, it was very difficult for him to let anyone know. All four children had found out about the half-sister who had died before any of them were born, but it was still something that Jethro didn't talk about often.

As Tony shuffled down the stairs and slid into his chair, Jenny handed each of her children a bowl and pointed to the cereal boxes in the middle of the table. "That's all you have time for today. The bus will be here in about fifteen minutes." She stepped back and watched as the foursome easily sorted out who wanted which cereal, and Ziva stood up without even asking to get out Tony's favorite, which Jenny had inadvertently forgotten.

Twelve minutes later, all four Gibbs children were pulling on jackets and backpacks, furiously trying not to miss their bus. As they headed for the door, Jenny entered the foyer and called them back.

"Do you all have everything?" she asked.

They all nodded and chorused, "Yes, Mom," in bored voices. Jenny shook her head and laughed.

"Nope. Ziva, Abs, you forgot your lunches." She handed both girls brown bags, laughing again at the chagrined looks on their faces. "It's all right. I'll see you all when you get home!"

"Bye, Mom!" they answered, hurrying out the door and down the street as the bus pulled up to the corner. Jenny watched her children and sighed, then headed upstairs to get ready for work.

**_A/N2: Yes, I changed the timeline of Jen and Gibbs in Paris and what happened there. So, did you like it? Please review!_**


End file.
